Refusing to cast gangs in solely criminal terms, Robert J. Durán, a
former gang member turned scholar, recasts such groups as an adaptation
to the racial oppression of colonization in the American Southwest.
Developing a paradigm rooted in ethnographic research and almost two
decades of direct experience with gangs, Durán completes the first-ever
study to follow so many marginalized groups so intensely for so long,
revealing their core characteristics, behavior, and activities within
two unlikely American cities.
Durán spent five years in Denver, Colorado, and Ogden, Utah, conducting
145 interviews with gang members, law enforcement officers, prosecutors,
and other relevant individuals. From his research, he constructs a
comparative outline of the emergence and criminalization of Latino youth
groups, the ideals and worlds they create, and the reasons for their
persistence. He also underscores the failures of violent gang
suppression tactics, which have only further entrenched these groups
within the barrio. Encouraging cultural activists and current and former
gang members to pursue grassroots empowerment, Durán proposes new
solutions to racial oppression that challenge and truly alter the
conditions of gang life.